The film industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. To draw audiences, filmmakers strive to capture realistic scenes on film. Special effects, trained stunt performers and computer generated effects are commonly used to produce a dramatic, convincing enactment of events.
The desire to achieve a realistic scene must be weighed against the safety and skill of the actors in the scene. Stunt doubles are often used, replacing at least one actor with a trained stunt professional for a portion of a scene. A trained stunt person typically has a skill set the actor lacks, allowing him to perform impressive physical feats. A stunt person also has safety training to better avoid injury while performing dangerous tasks. A stunt person may be used when the skill required and the risk of injury is elevated beyond the limitations of an actor. Although a stunt person may be selected and clothed to resemble the actor he is replacing, additional filming and editing techniques are typically used to successfully use two people to portray one character.
Staged combat frequently appears in movies. Typically, physical contact is avoided in the filming of a fight scene to avoid the risk of serious injury. For example, at least one camera may be set up at an angle which conceals the fact that no blow is actually delivered. Because no impact is made when a blow is simulated on film, the actors involved must compensate through their acting. For example, an actor delivering a blow must appear to have struck an object, while the actor receiving the blow must act as if he has been hit. First, the actor receiving a blow must generate a feigned reaction to the simulated blow. The actual reaction of a person to a real blow includes surprise, sudden pain, and involuntary facial and bodily reactions and reflexes. It is highly difficult to simulate the expression of a person who has received a strong blow. An actor must not only emulate these reactions, but he must also perform them at the correct time, even though the actor can only approximate the timing of a blow when no actual contact is made.
Not only must the actors portray immediate and intense reactions such as surprise, severe pain, reflexes, and other involuntary responses, the actors also have to simulate the physics of a real impact. Both actors must move each body part involved in the correct manner and at the correct time. An actual blow may cause movements which are nearly impossible for an actor to simulate using solely the power of his muscles. For example, an actor delivering a blow may be expected to suddenly stop moving upon the perceived impact, while an actor receiving a blow may be expected to fly in the direction of the blow. Furthermore, a blow may cause a recoil or whiplash effect of a specific body part that may be difficult to emulate. The timing, physics, and intensity are exemplary factors which contribute to the difficulty of portraying a realistic impact on film.
In many scenes, such as action scenes involving staged combat, multiple blows are delivered in quick succession. Multiple blows increase the risk of injury and complicate an actor or a stunt person's task of reducing injury to himself. Multiple blows also increase the difficulty of acting for the actor receiving the blows, since the actor must now simulate the timing, physics and reactions of multiple blows. For each blow, the actor is starting at a new position and his various body parts are moving at a new velocity due to the character's conscious movements as well as the character's reaction to previous blows. Furthermore, each blow begins at a unique position, with a unique speed, angle and force.
Although a stunt person may be trained to safely receive a certain amount of force, the risk of injury is often too great to deliver an actual blow to the stunt person. Even the delivery of a direct blow of reduced impact may come with an unreasonable risk of injury, such as a direct force applied to the head, neck and groin. The amount of risk an actor or stunt person is willing to take is determined by the actor or the stunt person and other parties involved in filming. Minimizing or avoiding contact increases the safety of a stunt person or actor receiving a blow, but the realistic appearance of the final product is compromised. Contact helps an actor receiving a blow because it gives the actor information about the timing of a blow. Furthermore, the force of an actual blow will move an actor according to the physics of a blow at the correct time. An actual impact also assists actors by creating a natural reaction to the blow in the actor, whether the actor is delivering or receiving the blow.
There are currently no known systems that provide a wearable impact transfer device which redistributes an impact on a person.